it is wednesday, october 31, 2012. welcome to cbs this morning. the damage from sandy is staggering. 50 dead. 7 million people without power. >> the storm has crippled travel along the east coast. we're inside an airline command center to see the struggle to get back to normal. >> massive construction crane continues to dangle over midtown manhattan. john miller takes us inside what went >> we begin this morning with today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. it's the worst thing that happened to this city certainly

since 9/11. >> millions in the northeast struggle in the wake of hurricane sandy. >> at least 55 deaths are reported. >> in sandy's wake, 6.5 million people are still without electricity. >> very difficult day. >> new jersey hit the hardest. >> site of devastation that makes it took like there was a bombing there. >> rescue teams triangle to go house to house helping those who couldn't leave on their own. >> trapped in their house for 24 hours. >> a lot of them were tired. >> take days before subway lines are running normal in new york city. >> most popular guy in the city today. >> guess so. >> wall street will be up and running today. >> breezy point was devastated by fires. the area was completely leveled. >> we're what devastated from this. shocked. shocked that this happened to us. >> governor romney is cautiously

venturing back on the kmain trail. president obama tied up with the storm. >> two major airports serving the new york area reopened this morning while laguardia remains a mess. >> wild reset halloween by executive order. >> governor christie. >> darkness, candles and whining children. >> people had no e-mail, facebook, twitter or instagram or as amp ol users put it, facebook, twitter or instagram or as amp ol users put it, welcome to the party. captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs "this morning." the remains of superstorm sandy is moving into western new york

and causing trouble as far west as wisconsin but nothing like the damage in the northeast. the death toll this morning is 55, 22 of them in new york city alone. >> 6.8 million utility customers are still without power in 16 states and washington, d.c. in hard hit lower manhattan officials say power will not be fully restored until the weekend at the earliest. however, financial markets will reopen this morning and major airports are also starting to reopen. our correspondents are all along the east coast again this morning reporting on the impact of superstorm sandy. >> we begin with jeff glor along the jersey shore which bore the brunt of sandy's wind and rain. president obama will visit the devastation there later today. jeff is in atlantic city. good morning. >> reporter: charlie, good morning. one situation firefighters are watching this morning is about 70 miles north of here, a fire has broken out and access to a bridge is limited or completely

unavailable which could make fighting that fire difficult. overall here in new jersey two-thirds of customers remain without power. this is what 14 inches of rain and a direct hit leaves behind. the coast guard launched missions all the way from north carolina to cape cod in the wake of sandy. outside atlantic city we joined one. more than 80% of this area was flooded. some neighborhoods remain waterlogged. piers were mangled. boardwalk bits cast aside. well as what spots held and which ones didn't information design to help protect from the next storm. >> the flooding, the destruction there is pretty severe. >> reporter: the president has

declared eight joins in new jersey major disaster areas all along the coast. >> we knew it was going to be bad but this is pretty devastating. >> reporter: it could be days or weeks before power is back. in one spot they lined up on foot tuesday to get gas. on the barrier island of seaside heights sand consumed block after blocked and demolish ad pier leaving a roller coaster sitting in the ocean. governor chris christie spoke about the scope of the damage and recalled his childhood speaking with resiliency but resignation. >> we'll rebuild it. no question in my mine. for those of us who are my age it won't be the same. >> reporter: here's another look at those pictures we're watching from new jersey. 70 miles north of where we are where a fire has broken out, emergency responders have been stretched to the brink up and down the brink.

one of the things that governor christie says he'll talk to the president about is getting the army corps of engineers here as soon as possible to start planning and rebuilding the beach. charlie and norah. >> just staggering. new york city is struggling to come to life after the storm. buses are running and roads are reopening but the subways are still closed. jim axelrod is in lower manhattan. jim, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the sea water that came over that wall and flowed into the underground power stations and subway stations has crippled lower manhattan. and new york city transit officials say this is the biggest disaster to ever hit the transit system. superstorm sandy may have moved on but parts of new york city remain paralyzed in her wake. >> restoring power and mass transit remain the two biggest challenges in the days ahead. that recovery is a mammoth job. >> it's the worst thing that happened to this city certainly since 9/11. >> reporter: new york city

subway system which averages more than 5 million commuters per work day is closed indefinitely because all seven subway tunnels linking manhattan to brooklyn and queens are flooded. at some stations near battery park where monday's surge of sea water hit hardest stairwells looked more like swimming pools. >> there was no way to prepare that would have kept the water out. >> reporter: officials say sandy is the biggest disaster to ever hit the new york transit system. so severe that fema is bringing in this team from the army corps of engineers to help. the same group brought into new orleans after hurricane katrina. >> we expect it to be a challenging engineering problem and getting all that storm surge back out and up and running again will take some time and engineering talent and a lot of will power. >> reporter: also need electric power, something 323,000 customers in new york city are still without. workers are pumping around the clock to remove sea water from

underground equipment. but dark sky lines and dangerous intersections will be the new normal in lower manhattan and some parts of the outer boroughs for a while longer. utility companies say it might be a week before power is fully restored. city buses will resume full service today and to help new york city get moving again those buses will be operating free of charge. jfk airport resumes limited service today but as far as laguardia goes no word on when laguardia airport might open. >> thank you. much more than water damage in new york city. there was a devastating fire on the rockaway peninsula where much of the neighborhood burned down early tuesday morning. that fire left more than 100 homes destroyed. michelle miller is in breezy point queens with that story. michelle, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, norah. not a single building on breezy point was left unscathed. the storm surge rolled in and

washed out everything. but what is still so hard for residents here to fathom is how after -- or how in five feet of rushing water and rain fire could do this to home after home? and block after block on this barrier island. it's the wake up call no one wants to recee. a six alarm fire that tor through the tiny beach town of breezy point. volunteer firefighter danny rushed to the scene. his brother's house was fully engulfed. both were among the 200 firefighters called into battle as the wind whipped flames jumped from house to house. >> everything was on fire. flames were 50 feet up in the air. just taking everything out. no stopping it. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: his mother's home was destroyed by the storm surge. it was on the opposite side of the island on jamaica bay and

was still knocked off its foundation. joann's eight children, four lost homes in breezy point, three by storm surge, one by fire. >> so this is your house? >> yes. the entire kitchen front wall blew out. >> reporter: this is a close knit neighborhood of mostly firefighters and cops with more than 100 homes destroyed only a religious icon was left standing in the debris. >> say your prayers for us. that's what you can do. prayer. >> reporter: catherine sullivan lives in the rockaway the next town over another community that saw fire hop scotch from home to home. >> we're just all devastated from this. i don't have words to tell you. i know we'll come out this. >> reporter: breezy point lost 37 residents in 9/11. more died next door in belle harbor a few months later. but even with this latest tragedy many told us they are

not leaving. they will rebuild. >> whole family lost everything. but, i don't know, we'll figure it out. we have to. nowhere else to go. >> reporter: norah, charlie, the amazing story here is that there were no serious injuries. 111 homes burned to the ground. 20 more heavily damaged. and what is now being called one of the worst fires in new york city history. >> a sea of incredible stories this seems to be the most penetrating. just as the storm seemed to be ending tuesday two new jersey towns were hit by massive flooding. hundreds of people had to evacuate. elaine quijano is in moonachie, new jersey. good morning. royal the floodwaters here in moonachie have receded quite a bit but as you can see there's plenty of standing water that

still remains. it's interesting residents here were actually not told to evacuate because it's several miles inland. now they have a long ordeal ahead. >> we'll be able to get you. we have to go here first. >> reporter: throughout new jersey first responder were heading to emergencies to those who couldn't help themselves and to those who didn't see it coming like residents of moonachie, miles inland and submerged by five feet of water in 45 minutes after a tidal surge pushed the river over its banks. floodwaters destroyed moonachie's only firehouse. teams from surrounding towns joined national guard troops to save 1,200 people and bus them to temporary shelters. >> it was devastating. it was certainly not what we were expecting. >> we had been through something like this in the past but

thinking this was small waters but not like this. >> reporter: and sandy claimed all of christina's belongings were in her basement. but gave her perspective. >> i'm safe and they are safe. that's all that matters. >> reporter: she spent last night at her mom's house. they don't have power but they have what they need. >> i have a beautiful big family and a nice warm house to be in and not everybody has that. >> reporter: others have not been so fortunate. authorities found the body of a 69-year-old man in the river. and there are some 4,500 people in shelters throughout the state. charlie and norah? >> thank you. there are new problems in the aftermath of sandy. long lines for it wgasoline.

one woman said she waited two hours for gas. the line at that station was 200 cars long by the afternoon. and many stations in the region are out of gas and other stations remain closed. >> the storm crippled the entire transportation system in the northeast. this morning it is slowly getting back in gear. bob orr is at washington's reagan national airport. bob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, charlie. good morning norah. limited service is picking up here today at reagan national airport and at other airports around the northeast. we're also told that newark are airport and newark's jfk will reopen today. since sunday the storm has caused nearly 20,000 flight cancelations many of them in new york's major airports. laguardia airport with a runway less than seven feet above sea level was no match for sandy's record storm surge. laguardia is still under water but not the planes. >> we repo signaturesed over 100 airplanes from the east coast to

our west coast cities to denver to houston in order to get them out of harm's way. >> reporter: now getting those planes and even flight crews back where they belong is an urgent challenge for the 300 people at the united airlines operation next in chicago. >> we'll have two triple 7s out of houston. >> reporter: it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle. >> we need to find crews, redo flight plans, refuel the aircraft. all of those pieces, putting that back together. >> reporter: even with limited service there were no lines of angry passengers. early alerts warned travellers to stay home. before sanny made landfall airlines began waiving fees for people who changed their flights. >> we booked the flight, first flight scheduled to go back. >> reporter: the storm derailed commuter train service. in upstate new york sandy dumped boats on to tracks and hurled more boats and cargo containers on to bridges in new jersey. >> new jersey transit and light rail remain suspended. as i said this morning it will

take some time for this system to become fully operational. >> reporter: amtrak trains will resume rolling between d.c. and newark. service further north remain shut down because of flooded new york tunnels. >> we operate on other people's tracks as well. so we have to wait for them to clear and repair their tracks. >> reporter: now united airlines tells cbs this morning that it hopes to have some flights up and running this morning. laguardia is still a big problem. it's not certain when that will reopen. united said best case maybe flights there on thursday. >> just incredible pictures. bob orr, thank you. and the economic impact of sandy could be just as damaging. this morning analysts predict sandy will cost about $50 billion in storm damage. and in lost business. that would make it one of the five most expensive hurricanes in u.s. history. speaking of the economic impact financial markets plan to reopen

this morning despite the fact that the power is still out on wall street. they've been closed since friday because of sandy. rebecca jarvis is at the new york stock exchange. rebecca, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the rest of lower manhattan right now has its power out but here at the new york stock exchange they are running on generators, they anticipate they will open today at 9:30 a.m. mayor mike bloomberg will ring the opening bell here. the new york stock exchange, the physical body where i am itself suffered no damage from hurricane sandy. neither did the servers, they are based in new jersey and chicago and other parts around new york. these things keep stocks going. in order to reopen they ran multiple tests yesterday. about 50 personnel from the new york stock exchange actually stayed here overnight and they arranged to have carpools to bring people in, bring traders in this morning, people stayed because a nber of traders as we've been reporting come in

from long island, come in from staten island, they got here bright and early this morning. many of them telling me their homes or the areas surrounding their homes were destroyed, pummelled by hurricane sandy but they are here, ready to trade. the one question mark moving forward is the telecommunication system, the systems that connects a trader to the nysc and the trade is the big question. that's the big thing that traders will be watching today. >> and sandy is still hitting hard in west virginia this morning. ana warner is in the middle of that 48 snowstorm in elkins, west virginia. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. you know, elkins has become a bit of an island. it sort of isolated by the mountains and now by the snow that's been affecting the roads here. so for people here in town finding fuel and supplies is darn near impossible, frankly. there's no fuel and in terms of

finding any kind of supplies they are going wherever they can. the only store open in downtown elkins seemed to be this walgreen's where despite the lack of electricity a store manager opened the doors for residents hunting for supplies. >> where are the batteries. >> we don't have d batteries. >> reporter: people lined up to be escorted through the store to pick up shovels and other items. snowfall ranging from several inches to a couple of feetawayed down trees and power lines. outages took out power throughout this small city. bill spent the day removing large tree branches from his yard and the yards of his neighbors. >> when was the last time you saw a storm this bad? >> i haven't. >> this is the worst one? >> yeah. a mixture of everything. snow, wind and rain. >> reporter: police advise

people to stay off the roads but were kept busy responding to calls for help. >> we have a lot of snow, heavy snow. we got power lines down, trees down. we got vehicles that are stranded here and there. so we got network that out for us today. >> reporter: if you look behind me you can see the problem that we're talking about in the trees there where the branches a areweighed down. we're seeing more traffic. people are get ago round more easily. some of the roads are much more passable and especially to the west. so, we'll go back to

>> many people are watching this crane that collapsed 750 feet above manhattan. there were numerous complaints about the crane even before sandy wrecked it. this morning john miller looks at what went wrong and how long it could take to fix it. >> and when a hospital is evacuated 20 babies in intensive care need to go. but no lights and no elevators to help them. >> we had to go down nine flight of stairs that were wet. >> dr. jon lapook was there. he takes us inside that rescue mission on cbs this morning. [ female announcer ] beef, meet flavor boost.

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>> dr. jon lapook was there. he takes us inside that rescue mission on cbs "this morning".

welcome back to cbs "this morning." new york city has a new tourist attraction thanks to superstorm sandy. this massive construction crane partially collapsed during the storm 750 feet in the air. >> it's still dangling above midtown manhattan. police have evacuated the entire city block underneath because of the safety risk. john miller is watching it for us. >> reporter: good morning. city officials were watching it too. not like they didn't see the potential for an accident like this coming, so just before sandy hit they issued a mandatory stop work order on all construction sites in the city and they did surprise

inspections including one of this site on friday. now this construction site since it started has had 110 complaints. 21 of those this year alone. seven of those involving the crane. the last one a violation resulted in a stop work order that was corrected by the general contractor. those were all fixed and the crane itself was inspected friday. that was just three days before the boom snapped. when the crane folded the winds were up to 90 to 100 miles per hour. so what was a tower crane still doing up atop a skyscraper during a hurricane? in fact, this was one of several tower cranes, some at construction sites even taller than the 72-story project that remained up because they take too long and cost too much to take down. both the construction company and city inspectors say the

cranes are set to weather vein that means setting the crane and its tall boom so they will just turn in the direction of heavy winds, like a weather vein. but for some reason that didn't work. construction safety expert peter omatta says it's too early to know what went wrong. >> there could be multiple factors. human error. structural failure. weather conditions. in this case based on the video i saw it appears quite evident the most devastating factor on this crane accident was the wind. >> reporter: in a city that defines high real estate prices this building that calls itself 157 may redefine it. it has duplex condos selling for up to $90 million. the land lease construction company the builder of this project is one of the world's biggest but it's also had issues with safety and integrity. in 2008 they had to make a deal with prosecutors to avoid

manslaughter charges. that after safety violations at one of its demolition sites contributed to the death of two firemen. this year they admitted to a series of frauds including over billing its clients for ten years. the company agreed to pay $56 million in fines to avoid federal prosecution. since then the company has made reforms, but for now with the streets still frozen and the entire block evacuated, the question is how and how soon will they get the broken boom down. >> the procedure there, try to get the boom and strap it to the building and then we can reopen the streets and then over a period of time the contracting company will have to figure out a way to build a new crane on top and take that one down. >> reporter: now new york city has some of the toughest regulations and laws when it comes to cranes in the country. that's because in 2008 there

were two separate accidents involving cranes one a tower crane just like this that resulted in the death of 11 people. charlie. >> so, john, how long will it take to repair the crane? >> reporter: well, it may take longer to make the plan to repair the crane but once they figure out whether they are going to pull it up with another crane from the top or dismantle it from the bottom or tie to it the building or take it apart there that process should take only two or three days. that street is blocked and people still evacuated. >> john miller, thank you. praise is pouring in for the people who got hundreds of patients out of a manhattan hospital. 20 of them were newborns and in intensive care. dr. jon lapook spoke with some of their parents. they are very grateful parents. their story is next on cbs "this morning." [ mom ] 3 days into school break and they're already bored.

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. the staff at a manhattan hospital has become a symbol of all the people during the storm of sandy. >> all patients had to be taken to other hospitals. dr. jon lapook was there with some tiny children were safely moved out. good morning. >> good morning. as hurricane sandy slammed into new york city monday night 10 feet of water flooded seven builds of the new york university langone medical center with the tiniest evacuees most at risk. >> doctors, nurses and hospital staff sought to evacuate patients from nyu langone medical center monday night. the most vulnerable, 20 newborn babies clinging to life in the

neonatal intensive care unit. >> all these monitors here, there's a lot of buzzing and everything just went. >> joann's son jackson born 27 weeks prematurely was carried in the dark by a nurse who also held his oxygen tank. >> we had to go down nine flight of stairs that were wet and had adult patients lying on the floors in like stretchers. it was pretty crazy. all of this in complete darkness. >> people running around, pushing gurneys. >> outside the hospital, jeremy checked on his son william who was born three weeks ago with congenital heart disease but no one would let him in. >> i tried to explain i had a 3-week-old fresh off heart surgery. >> he waited outside in the driving wind and rain for two hours. finally a doctor escorted him

inside. >> we jog, ran up 15 flights of stairs up to his floor and got to the top of the steps and the floor was pitch black. i found my son, found his nurse and kind of an awesome moment and then we walked down together. >> a harrowing drive down dark slick streets to hospital that lost power followed. mount sinai for william. >> for his situation and age he's doing good considering the long journey we had in an ambulance to get here. >> by tuesday morning all the patients at nyu were successfully evacuated to nearby hospitals. >> looking for me? >> no one is more grateful for the hospital's response than the parents of those 20 infants. >> hey buddy boy. >> they didn't choose the hurricane or power outage but they responded perfectly to it. as a parent, you know, it's very intense to deal with something about your kid. but they got the best possible care and it meant the world to

my wife and i. we're grateful. >> incredible. >> it is incredible. you remember yesterday i talked about a 29-week-old boy, little infant with oxygen over his face. i'm pretty sure that was skraun. it made a specific impression on me because my own son noah was born 29 weeks prematurely. >> the biggest risk was? >> lack of medicine, lack of oxygen. you have these tiny babies who are dependent on getting enough oxygen to their lungs. in newborns their lungs are immature and they need that oxygen in order to breathe, to live. imagine you're on there, the clock is ticking because you're now on battery power. when will it go off. when it goes off you have to manually bag them. >> these parents are so grateful to our first responders and nurses and doctors who got their kids out safe. it makes me tear up. it's just so incredible. thank god everybody is okay. >> i feel the same way. especially having been there.

unit with a baby clinging to life and the thought -- that's hard enough. imagine during a hurricane, on top of the hurricane oh, by the way we're transferring him to another hospital. >> and walking down nine floors. >> as many as 16, 17 floors. i was cared going down. narrow staircase. >> with a little baby down steps that's wet. >> wind going in. they were cradling them so preciously, so carefully. very moving.

the race is on this sunday in spite of sandy. we'll look at the new challenge for the runners in the new york city marathon. getting to the starting line. you're watching cbs "this morning."

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superstorm sandy hit less than a week before the city's biggest event the new york marathon. mayor michael bloomberg said the race will go on this sunday as scheduled. >> getting tens of thousands of runners through the streets is a challenge. christina baraicevic has covered the marathon. welcome. we know the damage of the storm to put this on. >> there's a lot of different things that will be hurdles. one is the course. it's lucky it doesn't go through lower manhattan it end in central park. looking for downed trees. a lot of dangers that the mayor has warned about in terms of people being on the roads. subways. how will volunteers get to where they need to go. this course goes through five boroughs. the bigger issue is how will the runners get here.

they've done a great job to get world class runners here to trees. it's a great race whether you're a bucket lister or a pro or an olympian. i talked to somebody who is stranded in new zealand. people from around the world with our airports shut down just can't get here not to mention the hotels. the economic impact of the storm is tremendous. and the marathon is not excluded. >> are many people suggesting it's a bad idea. >> yes. commente comment commenters don't think it's a good idea. there's a question how the city's resources will be used is fair. new york police department is part of what makes this marathon happen. in addition to the volunteers, we're waiting for more details from the mayor's office and roadrunners today. >> you bring up an important point new york city's resources to be used for this race whether

they should be diverted to other people without power and trapped inside their apartments those types of things. the other side of it is people say we can't let a storm like this define us we have to continue to run and carry out events like this if we move forward. >> it's interesting. the marathon it's easy to look at this as one event. it's many days of events. many companies that have events tied to this, there's an economic impact but runners train months. for some people the journey that this marathon represents is huge. a lot of emotion tied to this event. >> people say if this marathon goes on it will be one of the most be emotional marathons in new york city history. >> think that's entirely possible. >> sometimes events like this can lift the spirits. >> it's too early to tell. the next couple of days will be crucial. maybe they will change the course. maybe it will be smaller marathon. but they have their work cut out for them. >> thank you. and in the presidential race

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broadway is paying a high price for superstorm sandy. every show was forced to take tuesday night off and that's just part of the impact on new york's entertainment business. >> we'll find out when the actors are going back on stage and show you who did go on tv last night. your local news is next.

it's 8:00 a.m. welcome to cbs "this morning." rescue crews count the damage from superstorm sandy and search for more victims. we'll take another look at the hardest hit areas and thanks to sandy the show did not go on last night. we'll show you the impact on the world of entertainment. but first here's a look at what's happening in the world and what we've been covering on cbs "this morning." >> we'll rebuild it, no question in our mine we'll rebuild it. but for those of us who are my age it won't be the same. >> just as the storm seemed to be ending two new jersey towns were hit by massive flooding,

hundred of people had to evacuate. >> in new jersey two-thirds of customers remain without power. >> we knew it was going be bad but this is devastating. >> residents here were not told to evacuate. now they have a long ordeal ahead. >> new york city is struggling to come to life after the storm. >> the sea water that came over that wall and flowed into the underground power stations and subway station have crippled lower manhattan. >> worst thing that happened to this city certainly since 9/11. >> here at the new york stock exchange they are running on generators, they are here and ready to trade. >> a new tourist attraction, this crane collapsed during the storm 750 feet in the air. >> city officials were warpg of watching it too. they saw the potential for an accident like this coming. >> when was the last time you saw a storm this bad? >> i haven't. >> we're supposed to start our week of shows last night but we couldn't because of hurricane sandy. 8 million people lost power

which means no one is watching right now. >> i'm child molester roarlie r gayle king and norah o'donnell. crews are working around the clock to restore power nor than 6 million customer whose have no athlet electricity. >> the new york stock exchange reopens. and the smithsonian will reopen in washington along with the national zoo. jeff glor is in atlantic city, new jersey where he toured some of the damage with the coast guard. good morning to you, jeff. >> reporter: gayle, good morning. we went up in the coast guard helicopter yesterday as they went on a damage assessment mission. but they were also looking for leaking fuel, potentially leaking fuel or ships that may be adrift. the commander did say something interesting to me when we were up. he said there was a derecho, a

strong line of thunderstorms in atlantic city in june that took down many trees and that may have minimized the damage from sandy because some of those trees were already down. but it's not just here in atlantic city where we see damage, 2.1 million customers across the state of new jersey remain without power. that is more than two-thirds of the people in this state. we should be clear the entire boardwalk here in atlantic city is not destroyed. but parts of it are. and that's one of the things that governor christie says he'll talk to president obama about today when the president visits trying to get the army corps of engineers out here to begin to plan and rebuild the beach. >> all right, jeff glor, thank. we'll go now from the jersey shore to new york city. jim axelrod is in lower manhattan with that part of the story. jim, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning. more than a million people in the new york metropolitan area are without power. power is not expected to resume

until this weekend at the earliest. bus service resumes today although subway many days away. we want to show you some dramatic video we have taken from staten island, a roof too rescue, five adults and a child trapped in their home made it to a rooftop. the rescue was carried out by nypd helicopter 23, which was named after 23 new york police department officers killed on 9/11. of course this is the biggest test the city has faced since 9/11. not every piece of video we've come across is as dramatic as that, but still meaningful nonetheless and we want to show you what just we've taken in the last hour here. which is shots of a ferry bringing workers from new jersey to lower manhattan. the first time we've seen that since sandy hit new york and as we say not nearly as dramatic as a rooftop rescue but still carries some meaning as well. charlie, gayle, norah.

>> jim axelrod, thanks. now to politics and the race important the white house. a new quinnipiac cbs "new york times" poll focus on three battleground states that could decide tuesday's presidential election. >> president obama leads governor romney in ohio. in virginia the president holds a two point lead. however his republican challenger has an edge with independent voters. and in florida governor romney has cut the president's nine-point advantage last month to just one-point. jan crawford is in tampa covering the romney campaign. jan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, norah. romney has been keeping a pretty low profile over the past couple of days as he's been trying to walk this fine line between maintaining a public presence while the east coast was guesting battered by hurricane sandy. but now we got six days left. he's back on the campaign trail here in florida. he's got a rally later morning. you see his campaign plane in the background. he's hoping to build that

momentum, continue build the momentum and as you said our poll shows he's picked up a lot of ground here. romney arrived in florida tuesday night ahead of three campaign events here today. he'll be join by senator marco rubio and former florida governor jeb bush as he makes stops outside of miami and along the i-4 corridor, looking to reach crucial swing voters. our new poll now has romney in a dead heat with the president after trailing by nine points just over a month ago. romney is now edging out the president among seniors and has cut his lead with women voter in half. today will be romney's first campaign rally since hurricane sandy pounded the east coast. tuesday he was in the key state of ohio but focused his attention on the storm as he helped supporters box supplies for victims. >> part of the american spirit. the american way to give to people who are in need. and your generosity this morning touches my heart and i appreciate what you've done. >> reporter: in florida romney is expected to continue pushing

a message of bipartisanship. our polls show voters believe he'll do a better job work with democrats and republicans, more florida voters also say romney has stronger leadership qualities than the president. but that poll was taken before hurricane sandy and so now the president is dealing with the aftermath and the response to that storm has a huge opportunity to try to change those views and also to build his lead on the question of which candidate better understands people's needs and problems. voters here give him the edge on empathy. >> president obama heads to new jersey today to see the damage from superstorm sandy. nancy cordes is at the white house this morning. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: the white house is hoping that the president can get back to the campaign trail tomorrow. he leaves the white house mid-day today to to your the devastation with governor chris christie. the rest of the time he's in a

flury of conference calls and meetings as we tries to balance with being president and running for re-election. >> america is with you. we're standing behind you and we'll do everything we can to help you get back on your feet. >> reporter: apartment red cross headquarters tuesday the president remembered the victims of the storm. then praised the mayors and governors from impacted areas. >> they've done extraordinary work. >> reporter: he specifically mentioned new jersey governor chris christie. >> let's stay safe. >> reporter: an obama critic and romney supporter who multiple times during the day complimented the president's response to the storm saying he's more concerned about new jersey than presidential politics. >> the cooperation from the president of the united states has been outstanding. he deserves great credit. >> reporter: in an effort to remind voter that the president is engaged and in charge his advisers released behind-the-scenes pictures of him meeting with officials.

they earn mailed a link to donate to the red cross via their website. bill clinton and joe biden were dispatched not just to key swing states but democratic leaning minnesota and pennsylvania to respond to a last minute push by the romney campaign. >> in the real world, barack obama's policies work better. >> reporter: the best news for the obama campaign in our new quinn back cbs "new york times" poll is that the president maintains a five point lead in ohio. his fire wall. he mostly has that lead norah because of a 17-point lead in the state among women while governor romney lead among men but by a smaller six points. >> let's bring in washington correspondent and host of "face the nation" bob schieffer. good morning. so how do you read the latest polls? >> well, it's very, very close. but, you know, i got to tell

you, charlie, i'm with governor christie on one thing. it's difficult to think about these polls right now when you look at the pictures that we've just been seeing, this devastation. the interesting thing in this poll is that governor romney seems to be moving in florida and virginia ever so slightly. but president obama is holding the lead that he's held in ohio. i was going to say at the start of this morning i think that's because of the success of the auto bailout that had a big impact in ohio. but just as i was thinking about saying that then i get this poll that comes in from michigan, not our poll but the detroit news poll, which suggests that it's closer than ever now in michigan where neither side was even advertising before. now i understand they are both making buys in michigan. this race is so close, charlie it's hard to say why anything is the way it is this morning.

>> makes it more exciting. >> so, bob, you see president obama is going to be touring new jersey with governor chris christie who has been one of president obama's sharpest critics but the two coming together. governor christie hurting romney by doing this. other people are saying maybe these two guys are just doing their job and coming together regardless of party. what do you think? >> you know what i think, norah. i think this is, when we see governor christie here, he is behaving as we would expect a leader to behave. i mean, you know this country has gotten so divided and the partisanship is running so high. i mean why wouldn't the governor of new jersey, a state that's been hit like this, why wouldn't he call on the president. he needs the president right now. and why wouldn't he be gracious enough to say thank you when the president gets on the phone, he said yesterday he talked to him three times, the time at

midnight. why wouldn't he say thank you. his folks immediate the federal government right now. and i must say, i wish more officials would act like this. i think this is what -- i think this is what americans are hungrying for is officials that can come together, put partisanship aside and try to solve the problem whatever it is. >> ten president said the other day he's not worried about the impact of sandy on his election right now, he's worried about the impact on families. what do you think, bob, ultimately this hurricane sandy will have this frankenstorm will have on this election? >> you know, i think it's probably, gayle, it's going to be a wash. it's down the battleground states. virginia, north carolina, these were the states on the east coast that were hardest hit. it had a slight impact, i think, on the early voting in those states. but i'm told that both of those states will have their polling places up and running on

election day. i think as the political director for the romney campaign told me just yesterday, he said look, it's the same storm in the same states for both candidate and so i think basically it's going to be a wash. i don't think it will change the vote in new york or change the southeast in new jersey. both of which are strongly democratic. and so far minimal impact on the east coast in those two battleground states. >> all right, bob schieffer

you know it takes a lot to dim the lights on broadway, but superstorm sandy did exactly that, closing every theater and shut down movie productions too. we'll look at the impact ahead on cbs "this morning." ♪

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i want to show you some of this morning's headlines from around the goeb. the "wall street journal" said home prices rose 2% in august. largest increase in two years. prices rose 1.2% in july. the recovery is being driven by rising demand, declining inventory and low interest rates. >> "san francisco chronicle" reports on a fascinating discovery on mars. the red sand scooped up by the nasa recover curiosity is similar to the vulcanic soil in hay. this is the first time x-rays from earth have ever been used on another planet. the las vegas review journal says an arrest has been made in the theft of $1.6 million. it took akingide cole less than

30 minutes to steal those chips. >> disney will dplars 4 billion to lucas films giving it control of the "star wars" franchise. and britain's telegraph says global wine shortage is predicted. pushing prices up this fall. wine production is expected to hit its lowest level in 37 years after bad weather ruined grape crops around the world. bad news for charlie. this morning a lot of people are -- >> charlie is going why me, norah. >> why me? >> a lot of other people. >> including you. >> that part too. >> this morning a lot of people are staring at their storm damaged property and thinking how do we fix this. well tv's "million dollar contractor" will help you make some good decisions with some

great information as we continue on cbs "this morning." honey, don't use your sleeve.

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open a night it's about 8:00 in the morning. we're in the middle of watching that storm for cbs "this morning." we smelled smoke, we saw just a little wisp of smoke pouring out. this is a full blown house fire

in an abandoned, empty house and firefighters have just arrived to put it out. it's one of the examples of the dangers left behind in the wake of hurricane sandy. >> boy. welcome back to cbs "this morning." that's our elaine quijano, on the scene in moonachie, new jersey just as a fire boek out there. we follow the devastation and recovery. that's full blown there. we follow the recovery from superstorm sandy. what to do? you're standing there doing the story and then you hear this behind you. >> incredible pictures. looks like the firefighters made it on the scene quickly. right now we want to check in with chip reid, he's in summers point, new jersey where people are starting to return to their homes this morning. chip, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, norah and gayle. i am standing in summers point. this is the story of two towns, two neighboring towns. summers point was hit pretty hard by hurricane sandy here on the mainland of new jersey. out there across the bay is

ocean city, new jersey which sits on a fragile narrow barrier island. and that is where sandy hit first. summers point, new jersey is ten miles down the road from a devastated atlantic city. >> half of summers point in our backyard. our entire dock. our shed came down. devastating. >> reporter: the storm destroyed the town's beloved fishing pier, the pavilion now sits in the bay. an emergency responder here for 36 years said it's the worst he's ever seen. >> our fishing pier is now a gazebo in the water. >> came right off. >> yep. the docks here are gone. >> reporter: though a piece of summers point nostalgia is all but gone the feeling for many residents is relief. >> we're safe. we're safe. the houses were safe. just a lot of clean up and mess

and i guess money. >> reporter: but as bad as it is in summers point it's worse out on the barrier islands like ocean city that line new jersey's coast. when sandy came ashore she hit here first. tom and eileen feel lucky to be alive. >> lost our fingernails watching the news over the last couple of days and not to say we're not devastated. but what's important to us we still have our footprint here. >> reporter: their vacation house is gutted, swamped by the storm. all that remains is the bare framework of their home. >> we had a lot of, you know, good times here. going to be a lot of cleaning up. >> reporter: now barrier islands like ocean city run all up and down the new jersey coast. and they certainly are a great vacation spot but they also serve another purpose.

when a big storm like sandy hits they cushion the blow for towns like summers point. norah and gayle. >> chip reid, thank you. we mentioned earlier that sandy could be one of the five most expense hurricanes in u.s. history. list focus on that now with our editor of cbs moneywatch. jack, the cost is just staggering, the devastation. how is this going to impact our larger economy? >> sure. early estimates are tough to get a handle on but it looks like there's something in the range of $20 billion just in property damage, lost business that could be anywhere from $10 to $30 billion as we sort through these things that just aren't happening right now because of the storm. think about it. from the empire state building to wall street, there's no electricity. that's a lot of economic activity that's just not happening right now. >> whenever you have these kinds of stories they say there's a silver lining. i think it's hard to see that when you're in the middle of

this kind of devastation. do you see one? >> i hate to talk about such a thing after what you've been it true.on television. exhibit a.tion industry is thinabout it. ever since the great recessi there's been noson to bang na houses so there's no reason to build any more. now we have a reason to build some more house because a lot have been destroyed. 2 million construction jobs simply didn't come back after the housing bubble burst. now a few of those guys will get back to work. other industries will see something. i don't know if anybody stood in line on saturday to purchase supplies. rental cars. people have to get around. renting cars. even purchasing cars. we've seen what happened to those flooded out cars. buying new ones. >> i read a piece in the paper this morning about a local dealership in new york that said they usually push 60 cars per month they are gone because so many people need cars to get to work and their previous cars are

under water somewhere. >> is this a sustaining kind of push or short term? >> interesting point. i think that the biggest damage actually will be felt immediately. so even the fourth quarter but certainly this week you'll see a negative sbakt. the restaurant that didn't serve the meals, airline flights that didn't go. airlines will get hit hard. their margins are so thin. they will get hurt. over the long term, charlie, say the first quarter of next year, second quarter of next year, that's when this building is taking place on the jersey shore. when more people will decide i got buy that new car. so i think you'll see a little bit of a boost early next year for the fourth quarter of this year i think it will hurt us a little bit. >> there's this question, it raises the need to do the important things in terms of infrastructure. it raises a red flag to do that now. >> yes. that could be a boost. there's even talk gosh with new york do we need to think about

seawalls as they have in other low-lying places. how do we get these subways back. do we need some work there. yes over time. of course we get back to the old discussion that's federal money. you can't do it at the state level. can we afford to borrow more. >> this won't have any effect on friday's jobs report, right? >> i think it's such a small snapshot of time it won't. although if you think -- 8 million of people without electricity those people aren't working right now so i got a contractor as a cbs moneywatch can work at home. but if he had to doma new all labor he might not get here. people are not making money right now who are being paid on an hourly basis. you might see that impact the number a little bit but not a big effect. >> thank you. >> sandy also hurting the entertainment business. we'll find out when tv shows and broadway can turn back on the

the show must go on is a phrase that may be as old as show business but superstorm sandy was not listening. as barry petersen reports a lot of shows are not going on. >> reporter: oh, what a night indeed, new york's bustling broadway scene has gone from singing to sand bags. ♪ >> reporter: say hello to hurricane sandy which forced all 40 theaters in the great white way to shut down saying good-bye to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue. to stem the losses, spiderman and his friends really do need to turn off the dark. >> producers have to pay their staff and the actors anyway so it really is a complete loss for them. >> reporter: for the second

night david letterman showed up for the late show but played to an empty theater. >> we pretend there's an audience. >> no like every other night we pretend the audience isn't here. >> thank you for ignoring the local authorities to be here tonight. >> reporter: jimmy kimmel brought his l.a. based show to a waterlogged brooklyn. analysts are finding little to laugh about over sandy's financial impact. person of interest and seven other tv shows that film in new york were told by the city they had to stop working and now face the expensive process of rejuggling production schedules. >> how important is opening weekend to a movie maker? >> it's very important. that's the weekend where you make your mark. >> reporter: paul tracks the movie box office for hollywood.com. he says that just like hundreds of jets on the east coast the big budget movie flight might be grounded on its upcoming opening

weekend while another film opening this weekend might get a lift. >> a movie like "rocket ralph" which is escapism, is it a chance it may get a boost. >> "rocket ralph" might provide an anecdote. >> reporter: how is this for a hollywood plot twist. the big budge russell movie about a flood includes building arc. it had to shut down building in new york because sand chip created floods that were all too real. amazing. david letterman goes on even without an audience. >> and jimmy kimmel. that was great. big week. >> many storm victims have a new worry, who is going to fix the house. tv's "million dollar contractor" says you don't have to do it right away. we'll ask him how to find the

right help. ahead. he's the one in the played shirt. ahead on cbs "this morning."

first storm sandy overwhelmed sewer systems on top of everything else. this morning tens of millions of glance of raw sue wag are sitting in water weighs. >> health departments are warning residents about tap water. seth doane is in connecticut with that story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you charlie. the waste water that made to it this facility is treated and considered safe. the concern is the waste water that doesn't make to it

facilities like this one. here in connecticut there's 55 smaller pumping stations that fuel this facility. during hurricane sandy three of those were temporarily knocked off line. and that sent 55,000 gallons of raw untreated sewage into the ocean. from maryland with its reports of millions of gallons overflowing sewage to connecticut where sewer plants were knocked off line headlines following hurricane sandy have raised questions about water safety. >> in a disaster like sandy, it is not uncommon for us to have real problems with the quality of the drinking water. >> reporter: the director of the national center for disaster preparedness. >> the drinking water can get contaminated through break downs in the sue wag treatment plants, overflow of sewers and other things that can make the drinking water unsafe. >> reporter: residents of hard hit atlantic city, new jersey are being asked to boil water.

in new york, untreated sewage is flowing into waterways. this map highlights red zones that should be avoided. in brooklyn, floodwater over topped sides of the canal a designated toxic superfund site. but new york city mayor michael bloomberg maintains the drinking water is safe. >> it tastes like it has more chlorine in it because we want to take extra precaution. the water supply is fine. >> reporter: the doctor said following a storm drinking bottled water is safest and says use common sense. >> it is highly advisable to stay away from those potentially contaminated bodies of water. >> reporter: in connecticut, 15 to 20 million gallons of partially treated sewage is believed to have flowed into long island sound when pumping stations were overwhelmed by the storm surge. dan malloy is connecticut's governor. >> suffice to say immediate time

being no one should eat the clams or oysters. >> reporter: the staff here at this facility tells they they are operating around the clock, working long shifts trying to keep this facility up and running. it's one of about a third of the facilities here in connecticut still operating on back up generator power. >> thank you, seth. the damage from storms like sandy doesn't disappear when the sun comes out. sometimes that's when you fine even more trouble. host of the diy network "million dollar contractor" is here with post-sandy advice. i've seen you in action so i know you know what to do with a hammer and a saw. what's the biggest problem that sand chip has created? >> people are starting to return to their homes and what they don't realize is you have to really, you know, be cautious when you enter back in the home especially the ones flood and vaetd. you want to look around for downed power lines around the home. possibly any smell of gas.

you want to check out the structural cracks on the foundation. people don't realize your foundation may be perfect but the soil has eroded from underneath from the foundation, maybe a month or two from now it may cause a crack. first you want to check it out before you bring the family back in. >> what repairs should we not be doing ourselves. >> you can do anything yourself when it comes to structural foundation. structural foundation you want a pro. anything with electric kal. maybe the furnace. these are things that are important to make sure somebody who is professional does it. >> the biggest thing i'm concerned about is electrical fires. elaine quijano was in new jersey and a home caught fire while she was reporting. >> people have water in their basement. by the time they get back in the water has gone down but the outlets and receiptcles were covered inside the water and now bacteria from the water, you

don't know what kind of contaminants are in the water. that could do something to the wiring. >> we should watch out for storm chasers. >> yes now. there's going to be a lot of people coming door-to-door and they are going to be telling you, listen i can fix your home. this is a time with you have to take a step back and say look if it's not urgent, i'm going to get a few price, i'm going to look at their work. you still want to follow the normal guidelines of hiring the right contractor rather than hiring someone because you're afraid and you want to get it over with. a lot of people are excited to get it repaired and they will do anything. >> what's your bottom line on things you should fix right away and others that i can wait. >> if you have a hole in your roof fix that right away although you could cover it with a tarp. >> i figured that one out. >> i'm going with the hole in the roof. >> it will be winter so fix the heating, electrical.

fix the electrical. that can cause a problem later on. you want to clean out your basement right now. >> good advice. thank you so much. pleasure to have you here. that want does it for us. storms coverage continues on your local station throughout today and tonight. we leave you with one last look at the sights and sounds of superstorm sandy. see you tomorrow here on cbs "this morning." >> america is with you. we are standing behind you and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back on your feet. the remains of superstorm sandy are still causing trouble as far west as wisconsin but nothing like the damage in the northeast. >> new jersey two-thirds of customers remain without power. >> we knew it was going to be bad but this is state offing. >> the flooding is severe. >> as you can see there's plenty of standing water that still remains. >> new york city is struggling

to come to life after the storm. >> the sea water that came over that wall has crippled lower manhattan. >> the amount of damage we're experiences is unprecedented. >> there was a devastating fire on the rockaway peninsula. >> will you rebuild? >> we have to. we have nowhere else to go. >> the storm has caused 20,000 flight cancelations. >> this is a ghost town. i never experienced an airport with no one here. >> this massive construction crane partially collapsed. >> still dangling above midtown manhattan. >> when was the last time you saw a storm this bad? >> never. >> romney has been walking this fine line between maintaining a public presence while the east coast is getting battered by hurricane sandy. >> i'm with governor christie on one thing, it's very difficult to think about these polls right now when you look at the

pictures that we've just been seeing. >> we'll rebuild it. no question in my mind we'll rebuild it. but for those of us who are